A new barbecue joint on Peoria's North Side is celebrating real Texas style barbecue.
Eric Shangraw samples the sauces at Hickory River Smokehouse in this week's You Gotta Eat.

Pull up to the door and you'll catch a whiff of a Sunday church picnic. Hickory River Smokehouse has taken over the spot vacated by Famous Dave's years ago. The Champaign based restaurant, counting Peoria as its' fifth location, knows what's doing when it comes to pork ribs.

We use only baby–back ribs. They are always fresh. First we cover them in a dry rub and then they go into a smoker at low heat for an undisclosed period of time, said Managing Partner Mike Johnstone.

Photograher Warren Brinegar and I each went with the smokehouse combo: It gets you ribs, and two meat choices: We settled on brisket and sausage. I also had a side of cheesy scalloped potatoes, which feature sausage chunks. I ordered all three sauces on the side: mild, mixed and hot.

Stay for the hot sauce. The hot sauce has a nice kick to it. –A little sweet. The sauce has a nice finish, said customer Brett Ellis.

You can say it is finger licking good. I like the sauce, said customer Alan Adcock.

Once Warren got warmed up, he needed to pull back his non–friendly barbecue dew. The new style allowed his jaw to go to work on a pork bone uninhibited.
I was advised to prepare the killer corn bread with butter and honey. –Sound prepatory advise. Here's a critical element at : by not making the ribb meat fall–of–the–bone tender... you get the full carnivorous encounter. Our bill: $35.40. It actually was another dollar because we upgraded our drinks to root beer in a frosty mug. A worthy add on. There's enough food for leftovers and enough items on the menu to set sail again to Hickory River.

Hickory River Smokehouse is near Home Depot on Holiday Drive. They are open seven days a week for eat in, carryout or catering. 309-683-1227.